Have You Been Suffering From Chronic Knee Pain?

Chronic knee pain is notoriously difficult to treat successfully. Persons with these problems often become discouraged as they shuttle from specialist to specialist, from rheumatologist to orthopedic surgeon to physical therapist to acupuncturist and back again. Lack of progress and improvement becomes understandable when one considers that typical evaluation and treatment are directed at the symptoms. But with chronic knee pain, and many other pain syndromes, actual benefits may be obtained by addressing underlying biomechanical problems.
Faulty biomechanics are at the root of many ongoing knee problems. Of course, various other diseases and orthopedic conditions may cause the same type of chronic pain. The most likely of these possibilities need to be considered and ruled out before a diagnosis of biomechanical knee pain is established. Osteochondritis dissecans, a torn meniscus, and synovial effusion are all frequently encountered in persons over age 40 with chronic knee pain. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and ankylosing spondylitis are a few rheumatologic conditions which may result in sporadic or chronic knee pain.1
When these medical entities have been eliminated as possibilities, a biomechanical causation becomes probable. How does a person develop "faulty biomechanics"? In fact, most of us have never received effective instruction in how to use our bodies. We stand and sit in all kinds of unsound postures, slouching and slumping and generally giving in to every available force of gravity. We stand with all our body weight on one leg, neck and shoulder muscles gripped tightly and abdominal muscles sagging and protruding. When we sit we slump down, stressing the lower back with poorly tolerated mechanical forces, or sit for hours with legs crossed, stressing the lower back, hips, and knees.
Over the course of a lifetime, our bodies have continually tried to adapt to a range of inefficient and stressful postures and habits. But eventually no more adaptation is possible.2 As a result joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons break down and fail. We experience this failure as pain. And once this type of pain has started, it is not going to go away unless the underlying causes are corrected. Specifically, the person's biomechanics need to be restored closer to normal.
Correction of posture takes time and can only be accomplished gradually. The key is to learn what to do, learn how to do it, and to be working on posture every day.3 The most important thing is to begin. Three basic biomechanical corrections are as follows: (1) When standing, be sure to have your weight over the balls of your feet and to have your weight evenly distributed on both legs. (2) Activate your deep abdominal muscles by visualizing an "inner lift". (3) Have straight lines of force running down your legs (rather than lines of force crossing at your knee, creating torsion and tension). Visualize "straight energy" flowing from your hip sockets, straight down through the center of your knees, straight down to your feet, between your first and second toes.
Visualizing and implementing these three biomechanical corrections on a daily basis represents the first series of steps toward improving knee mechanics and reducing chronic knee pain.
1Yusuf E, et al: Do knee abnormalities visualised on MRI explain knee pain in knee osteoarthritis? A systematic review. Ann Rheum Dis 70(1):60-67, 2011
2Suri P, et al: Low back pain and other musculoskeletal pain comorbidities in individuals with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee: data from the osteoarthritis initiative. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 62(12):1715-1723, 2010
3Bennell KL, Hinman RS: A review of the clinical evidence for exercise in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. J Sci Med Sport 14(1):4-9, 2011

Exclusive Offer

New Patients Receive a Free Consultation

Office Hours

Our Regular Schedule

hours_body

Monday:

9:00 am-5:00 pm

Tuesday:

1:30 pm-6:00 pm

Wednesday:

9:00 am-5:00 pm

Thursday:

1:30 pm-5:30 pm

Friday:

9:00 am-12:00 pm

Saturday:

Closed

Sunday:

Closed

Our Office Location

Find us on the map

Testimonials

Reviews By Our Satisfied Patients

  • "Thank you Dr. Wan for being you and teaching my about my nervous system. My beautiful spine is the temple that houses a miracle, my nervous system. I am forever grateful. Happy trails..."
    - Karen C.
  • "I have had a great experience here. The atmosphere is relaxed, and the facilities are clean. Dr. Wan cares about his patients and listens to what they have to say. He commiserates with you when things feel bad and celebrates with you when they get better. I have been going here for over a year, and I have experienced very positive changes in my body that are helping me to be the most balanced version of myself that I can be. Definitely recommend!"
    - Erin S.
  • "We recently switched to Dr. Wan and are very glad to have done so. Getting adjustments from him regularly has noticeably improved our well being. He is always friendly and positive, as is his staff. We would highly recommend this as a place to go for chiropractic."
    - Charles B.
  • "We have been going to Dr.Wan for 8 years now and he is AMAZING!! We get adjustments for ear infections, common colds, sports related symptoms, arthritis issues and just to keep us healthy overall. It’s amazing all the benefits chiropractic care can do for you and Dr.Wan is always happy to help explain the why’s and the how’s of everything so you can understand. Dr.Wan sees patients of all ages from babies, children, and adults of all ages. Dr.Wan is friendly and understanding and truly is focused on whole body wellness."
    - Tanya C.

Featured Articles

Read about interesting topics

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Sign up for more articles